Going into the third week of its outdoor season, the Lobo track and field team will face top-notch competition this weekend at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.
“It’s probably the best race prior to the championship season that will exist,” head coach Joe Franklin said of the coming meet. “We have people starting Wednesday and we’ll go from there and see how things go. We typically run very well here.”
The Lobos posted 12 top-three finishes at the Bryan Clay Invite last year. Stellar marks in this early meet gave New Mexico the confidence to qualify 20 individuals to the NCAA Prelims in the championship season.
Franklin was satisfied with UNM’s performance in the past two meets. The team suffered bad weather conditions in the season opener. Thus, in the past weekend, the Lobos were competing without much experience or practice.
The most recent USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings put Lobo women at 46th place, and placed Lobo men No. 102.
Eyeing success in the conference and national championships, the Lobos were not satisfied with the current position, and are definitely hoping for better performances at Bryan Clay.
“Hopefully, things get better this weekend, it should be a great meet,” Franklin said. “Go out and compete, and compete hard and compete well, and see where you’re at.”
The return of several star athletes should help to provide some strong personal marks.
NCAA indoor mile champion Josh Kerr will make his outdoor debut in the 1500-meter run.
There will be a chance for Kerr to compete with Oregon’s Edward Cheserek again. Kerr beat Cheserek to win the national title last month.
Alice Wright, the 2016 NCAA 10,000-meter runner-up, will open her outdoor season in the 5,000-meter run this Thursday night.
Last year, during the same event, Wright set the meet and facility record.
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Jumpers Sam Trigg and Jannell Hadnot will continue to improve after their season openers last weekend. The duo both placed in the top three in men’s and women’s triple jump in the Mountain West Conference.
Along with those squads, New Mexico will send the majority of the team to compete in their own specialty events.
The Bryan Clay Invite will last two days. Men’s 5,000 runs first at 3 p.m. on Thursday, and the meet ends with men’s discus at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers beach volleyball, track and field, cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
